Wendi Murdoch recently switched lawyers about a month after
Rupert Murdoch surprised her with divorce papers, signaling this separation
could get messy.

Wendi, Rupert’s wife of 14 years, hired well-known New York
trusts and estates lawyer William D. Zabel.
Wishing for more independent counsel, Wendi dumped her previous lawyer,
Pamela M. Sloan, who had advised on her 1999 prenuptial agreement. The Murdochs also executed two postnuptial
agreements; however, there are still areas open for negotiation, such as
custody arrangements and child support for their 11 and 9-year-old daughters,
the division of certain assets like their Fifth Avenue penthouse and yacht, as
well as the interests in the Murdoch family trust.

William D. Zabel, of Schulte Roth & Zabel, typically advises
on estate planning matters for wealthy clients like George Soros and the Lehman
family. But Zabel has handled the
occasional divorce for clients such as Michael Crichton, Howard Stern, Jets
owner Robert Wood Johnson IV, former wife of Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, and
Jane Beasley Welch, the former spouse of the former CEO of General Electric.